TheSkimm has hired a digital advertising veteran to help the media startup court Madison Avenue

TheSkimm has hired ad veteran Brandon Berger as its
first chief business officer.

The plan is to help the newsletter company
unlock different revenue streams.

The media company's recent
success in pushing book sales is being viewed as a
replicable model.

TheSkimm is looking to move beyond the inbox.

The newsletter startup has named digital advertising veteran
Brandon Berger chief business officer, with the aim of
helping the company expand its business beyond its daily
newsletter, which reaches 6 million subscribers a day.

Berger was most recently chief digital officer worldwide for
the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather. Previously he
served a stint as vice president of digital innovation at
the ad agency holding company MDC Partners.

TheSkimm was founded in 2012 by Danielle Weisberg and Carly
Zakin, two roommates who quit their jobs at NBC once they saw an
opening to reach millennial women with a daily news roundup.

The company's expansion process is already underway. It has
already rolled out a video production arm as well as a
subscription offering and partnerships with companies like
Starbucks and Netflix.

The plan is to take things up a notch.

"We've had this great consumer narrative," said Weisberg of
theSkimm newsletter. "It was a very clear brand that people
fell in love with. We almost created that before we even
created the business. Now, five years in, we're a full-fledged
media company with multiple revenue streams. So it was exactly
the right time to develop new revenue streams and take the
company further."

That's where Berger comes in. The ad vet said he's been mulling
his next move for some time and was connected to theSkimm
founders a few years ago at a dinner.

In his mind, few media companies have established such a strong
connection with readers with so much upside, he said.

"They own 6am," said Berger, who is moving from Chicago to New
York to take on the new role. "There are very few brands in the
world that have the love and trust and relationship with this
customer that we have," he said. "We can go so deep
and guide this customer. We want to take advantage of
that."

For example, theSkimm has recently started a book recommendation
service that has proven to drive sales. Berger and his two
new bosses see the potential to apply that formula to several
other ad categories.

"TheSkimm moves product," said Weisberg. "We know how to
connect with our audience."

The startup has raised more than $15 million to date, including
$8 million last year in a series B round led by 21st Century
Fox.